Threads like these make me think maybe i shouldn't be a part of this community. Honestly who gives a damn about the direction of the shadows, unless you have nothing else better to do.
GT is a game, it will never replace or be close to the real thing, nitpicking on such minor details is just sad, and comparing such pointless things to other games is even sadder. To me the most important thing about a racing sim is the physics. With close to real life physics racing sims can be used as a usefull tool to aid in becoming a better driver in real life. Everything else is merely for eye candy and making the ''Game'' more attractive.
The only thing that i would say really annoys me in GT is the menu. I hate how you have to exit a bazillion menus before you can change certain parameters in the options, like FFB strength, power steering, car choice yada yada yada. The menus are so slow and there are so many screens, that they are the cause for me stoping playing after a short while. I would like to see a tab system in place like you get on PC games where you can change various parameters whilst still in game. Sometimes just setting up a game in GT feels like a chor.